On April 11, I watched members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the mishandling of massive amounts of data.

We all know this was done for the cameras and not to advance any punishment onto Facebook. The large majority of the members on the committee have taken donations, own stock, or have given tax breaks to Facebook.

Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader owns stock in Facebook. The corruption certainly does not end there. Facebook is a drop in the lobbyist bucket. With lobbyist money considered free speech, a natural question arises. How will we common citizens ever wrest back control from the privileged elite who control our government?

There is a simple answer. We must find and elect candidates who refuse to accept special-interest money because they want to represent the people equally. The majority of Oregonians are yearning for representatives who actually represent them and their home districts.

For example, Rep. Kurt Schrader takes a large majority of his campaign funds (more than 70 percent) from outside of our state and outside of his district. Less than 5 percent of his donations come from small individual donors.

Given his connections to lobbyists (energy lobbyists especially) plus his seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Schrader deserves some extra scrutiny in these corrupt times.

In 2018, we have the rare chance to replace Kurt Schrader with a candidate who has vowed to never take lobbyist or political action committee (PAC) money. That candidate is me, Joey Nations.

On the campaign trail, I often speak about the corruption infecting leadership in both parties. I haven't met a single voter who has disagreed with me yet. I have seen the corruption up close in my career as a business consultant and state tax analyst. The people can vote out corruption and my candidacy is our chance in our state.

I am offering Oregon’s 5th Congressional District constituents a path to stop the corruption in our corner of the state. The May 15 Primary and Nov. 6 General elections are our opportunities.

The ability to elect accountable, engaged, and accessible representatives is in our hands. Let’s vote like we mean it in 2018.

Joey Nations is a candidate for the Republican nomination in Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District. You can reach him at: joey@joeynations.com.